What Is the Origin of First Aid & CPR?

A CPR doll about to simulate drowning.

First aid and CPR have a long history that developed over time out of necessity. Organizations and physicians experimented through the centuries and worked to establish proper procedures by which people could follow to sustain victims' lives.

First Aid

One of the first organized efforts to teach first aid came in 1099. Religious knights were trained in medical care under the Order of St. John. On the battlefield, these knights used what they learned to treat fallen comrades in what became known as "first aid."

Mouth to Mouth

One of the earliest forms of CPR, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, was first established in 1740 by the Paris Academy of Sciences. The information on how to resuscitate people expanded over the next two decades with the establishment of the Society for the Recovery of Drowned Persons.

Significance

First aid was formulated into a distinct process during the mid-19th century at the First International Geneva Convention. The Red Cross was established and taught soldiers and civilians how to give aid in battle.

Considerations

Civilian ambulance crews first began to use first aid in the late 1800s in Britain. This tradition continued and advanced into the modern method employed by emergency medical technicians worldwide.

Famous Ties

Based on the work of James Elam and Peter Safar, the American Heart Association developed CPR in 1960. The organization instituted a program to train physicians across the country who would, in turn, train the general public.

References

• History of CPR
• Information and History of First Aid
• The History of CPR

Resources

• CPR in Three Steps
• First Aid Information